As a designer, Jackie Payne oversaw renovations, restorations and redecorations of historical homes in Fredericksburg, Va., for 27 years. When it was time to redo her own house, she had plenty of experience.
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“It’s very difficult to replicate the soul of an old home in new construction,” she said. “Those houses have seen things. They’re kind of like your great grandparents. They have stories to tell, and things aren’t perfect.”
She and a local contractor drew up plans for an addition that would more than double the living space, knowing the timeline was unpredictable. The project was expected to take two years, but she moved in on Dec. 8, 2014 — one year to the day after she purchased the house.
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That’s not to say the renovation was easy. The age of the house, at 1401 Washington Ave., was apparent in the attic joists and in the foundation, which lacked concrete footers and, instead, had brick on packed dirt. Part of a basement wall collapsed during excavation. Though the property is just outside the city’s historic district, considerations were given to preserve original details. It is on the market for $3 million.
During the renovation, Payne found Civil War-era memorabilia in the attic, including tintype pictures, medicine bottles and bullet casings. The house was built after the war on property once part of the 1,300-acre Kenmore estate (the plantation house is still standing down the street), where more than 80 people were enslaved.
The estate was used as a Union hospital after the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864, and by federal troops making their way to Richmond at the end of the war. The house at 1401 Washington Ave. was built for Granville Swift, at one time the city attorney and later a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
Vestiges of the original house include heart pine flooring on the second floor, built-in bookcases and living room columns. Where details couldn’t be preserved, Payne found ways to blend new and old. Reclaimed oak was milled for the first-floor herringbone floors and period-appropriate wainscoting and trim were added. The original radiators were refinished, and similar ones from area antique shops were installed.
The only wall she removed was in the kitchen, allowing views through a wavy glass window of the carriages that pass by on the historic tour route. The best thing about the house, she said, is that “you can walk through it, and nobody ever guesses right where the old house ends and the new house starts.”
The addition included a new kitchen, sunroom, mudroom, family room and primary bedroom suite. Despite being barely a decade old, it was all designed to look a century old. The sunroom, for example, has a brick floor, interior walls of exterior siding and a beadboard ceiling that Payne purposely made “a little off kilter” with a few cracks.
The wraparound porch has yellow double doors that open to a foyer. On one side, a living room, with an original bay window, flows into a dining room that has built-in cabinets with beveled glass doors. Beyond that comes the kitchen, which Payne described as “five kitchens in one.” It has several minifridges, cabinets for hiding appliances and a walk-in pantry. A family room with a fireplace leads to the sunroom and mudroom in the rear of the house. Under the stairs, Payne installed a wine fridge and wet bar.
On the second floor, the primary suite has a bedroom, en suite bathroom with heated marble flooring and a walk-in closet with a center island. Also on this level are four other bedrooms, three bathrooms and a laundry room with built-in cabinets and drying racks.
The basement and attic have finished flex spaces that could be used for offices, gyms or studios. In the backyard, brick walkways connect four distinct perennial gardens. The two-car garage has a side shed.
The house, on historic Fredericksburg’s main street, is less than a mile from the VRE and Amtrak rail stop and across the street from the Mary Washington Monument, at the burial site of George Washington’s mother.
$2,999,000
- Bedrooms/bathrooms: 5/4
- Approximate square-footage: 7,420
- Lot size: 7,000 square feet
- Features: The 1908 house underwent a major renovation that doubled its living space and added a new kitchen, sunroom, mudroom, family room and primary bedroom suite. The house retains original plaster walls, heart pine flooring and casement windows. It has a two-car garage.
- Listing agent: Suzy Stone, Lando Massey Real Estate
